Man charged with slaying girlfriend, choking neighbor

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM

BY JOE VANHOOSESTAR-BANNER

SUMMERFIELD - Rodney Stranger feared that an insurance company was out to kill him and his girlfriend. He fortified his house, set up surveillance cameras around the yard and put up a barbed wire and electric fence to protect his single-wide mobile home from attack.
Monday morning, tragedy and terror unfolded inside that home. The 59-year-old allegedly murdered Crystal Morrison, 50, his girlfriend of 25 years, in the couple's bedroom.
Residents along Southeast 41st Court in Summerfield woke up Monday in the midst of patrol cars and crime scene tape. Marion County sheriff's investigators worked on two crime scenes a block apart.
A few homes away from where Morrison was killed, Laura Backus was nearly choked to death after Stranger allegedly broke into her home.
The Sheriff's Office received a 911 call at 1:55 a.m. Monday from a child saying his mother was being choked. Deputies arrived to find Stranger - his shirt soaked in blood - hiding in the backyard of Backus' home at 4160 S.E. 150th St.
Backus told authorities that she got away from Stranger and calmed the man down a bit. The two sat down at the kitchen table and began talking, with Stranger saying over and over again that "he had done a very bad thing," Backus told investigators.
Sheriff's officials loaded Stranger into an ambulance while paramedics checked for injuries. When they found none, investigators went to Stranger's residence at 14874 S.E. 41st Court.
"We had been called out to his house before," Sheriff's Capt. Tom Bibb said.
On Feb.19, deputies responded to a call for a well-being check that was requested by Morrison's sister in Massachusetts.
The sister, identified in reports as Bonnie Curnan, called to say that her sister and a man named "Rodney" were being held against their will in their house, and that the same people that had tried to kill her in Massachusetts were trying to kill her now.
"Both Rodney and Chrystal [Crystal] stated they did not want to hurt themselves or hurt anybody else. But just wanted to protect themselves from people trying to harm them," according to the report.
"Our deputies went out there, and they were both OK," Bibb said.
However, deputies did "flag" the communications center "as an officer safety hazard due to the mental [status] of the residents."
Deputies had gone out the day before when neighbors complained of hearing gunfire. One neighbor said Stranger earlier had accused him of trying to poison his dogs.
Lt. Michael Paasche wrote in the Feb. 19 report that he met Morrison out in the yard while two other deputies went indoors. Inside the house, they found surveillance monitors, several guns, knives and Stranger, who had barricaded himself in his kitchen.
"Rodney stated that he was a witness and testified against an insurance company, which lost [and] cost them money and therefore they wanted to kill him," the report states. "He said he never leaves the house and does not have a job."
The report went on to say Stranger "stays at the residence because people working for the insurance company could show up and try to destroy their home and kill them."
The Sheriff's Office kept quiet Monday on how Morrison was killed. That information, Bibb said, will be released after an autopsy today.
Stranger is charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and burglary. Bibb said there is no clear reason why Stranger forced his way into Backus' home.
"We have no motive at this time," he said. "We don't know why Stranger did that to her [Morrison] or his neighbor."
Around the Summerfield neighborhood, much of it farmland, a few residents watched investigators come and go. Rusty Houle, 39, who lives with his mother across the street from Backus, said he was awakened at 2:30 a.m. by a host of sirens and lights.
"You know, this is a really quiet neighborhood," Houle said. "We've never had anything like this."
Houle said he knew Stranger because his dogs - two German shepherds and a pit bull - would sometimes get out and run around to neighboring houses. By 10 a.m., he and his brothers were measuring the width across their front yard so they could put up a fence.
"I guess things like this can happen anywhere," he said. "We probably need some added protection."
Joe VanHoose may be reached at joe.vanhoose@starbanner.com or at 352-867-4124.

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